Monthly Archives: December 2008

Back in the late 70’s View Master ruled the children’s entertainment world. Before there was Nintendo – there was the View Master! Take a disc, slide it into the top and pull the little arm on the side – and wheeeee! – you’re off into a magical world of still pictures that repeat after the 8th or 9th picture… Well, understandably, View Master had to up the ante – and up it they did! They invented the TALKING View Master! Slip the disc into the top, there’s also a small record type thing attached to the disc – and as you look at the tiny still pictures you can also hear a story that goes along with it! But not regular old pictures – 3D pictures! – but not real 3D pictures, just ones that look 3D. These sets had 3 discs and came with a little booklet. The booklet has a small story – Herb Trimpe images – and tells you how to hear the rest of the story. Man, the 70’s had the greatest toys ever! EVER!

The Whole Set!

No post tomorrow – have a good New Year! See you in 2009! Man, I can’t wait for Bowen’s 2009 run!

Tom Palmer. The name alone means so much to Marvel fans. Don’t believe me? Check out this list of Greatest Inkers of American Comic Books. That’s right. Also, I have one of the classiest and best friends ever. Tom Palmer frequents Zapp Comics in N.J. where my friend, Corry, works. Corry asked for a sketch of the Hulk to be done for a Christmas present. Tom Palmer did so much more.

Close-Up

This is a full, beautiful, inked piece by an absolute master. Look at the detail in this piece that screams classic Marvel. Everything about this piece makes me giddy. I would have never acquired such an amazing piece had it not be for my friend – so thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I have collected a lot of art at this point – but this one, even signed to me, is my favorite. Check out this other blog if you want to see just how revered Tom Palmer is in the industry.

Well, well, it is an “exclusive” I guess. But it’s just the package. But the package has little windows! Windows! So, the figures can look out or we can look in – either way – it’s YAY! We can see the figures! If you want to call this a variant, go ahead, no one’s going to stop you – but all it is is a different package. They did pair the Hulk and the Abomination in one package. In the regular packages they paired Abomination with Blonsky and the Hulk with Banner. So here, the figures are at the very least together. Still cool though.

Yes, this is the classic Hulk artist Ernie Chan. Yes, he has a VERY reasonable price for commissions. Pick one up – seriouly he will do what you’d like – and he’s really quick. This classic pose is a beautiful rendition of the Hulk in a full on rage. I’m thinking of getting another – this time a vs. piece. I’m pretty sure I want a Hulk vs. Thing from him – but – hey, we haven’t had a poll in a while – let me know what you think! I’ll give a few choices…

Just tell me what you think. Maybe I will take it into consideration – I’m leaning toward Thor, Thing or Abomination – but just vote and I’ll take a look at the results and decide. This might be the first commission of 2009! If you want one for yourself just log onto his site here: http://www.erniechan.com/

It was just a matter of time before they made the Abomination – with the Hulk, the grey Hulk and the Leader all present it’s only fitting that they released the Abomination here in the States before the year is through. I say here in the States because these figurines, all painted in lead paint – yes it’s harmful – but only if you digest it, so keep these out of your mouths, are actually made and released overseas. Only specialty comic shops carry these, so you most likely won’t find them in any major chain stores.

Profile - Side View

They are obviously taking a little more interest into making bases for these figures – I like bases with a little more pizazz – I like figures that tell a bit of a story rather than just standing there. As you can tell comparing the Hulk’s standard black base to the Abomination’s rocky rubble base. Abomination holding the steel pipe ready to knock the be-jesus out of someone is a perfect pose. The Leader was posed in his classic pose but the Abomination doesn’t have what we can call a “classic” pose – so just showing aggression is as good as any.

The Abomination Collectible Booklet

Side 1 of the Poster

Side 2 of the Poster

The great thing about the little collectible booklet that comes with these figures are the time lines of their story in the comics. You can follow their every move – like, for example, I wasn’t aware that immediately following his debut in comics he went to Thor’s comic and then right back to Hulk’s. The later 80’s and 90’s had Abomination popping in and out of a bunch of comic heroes. West Coast Avengers, Hawkeye, Spiderman, Namor, X-Man, X-Men – and then of course came the Betty saga. I wonder if Peter David meant for the Abomination to kill Betty? I wonder if he laid the groundwork for such a memorable moment in Hulk history.

UPDATE: I emailed PD and he in fact confirmed that he always intended for the Abomination to be the one who killed Betty. Kudos to Peter David for emailing back fans with such silly questions…

I was going to make you wait for this – but since they brought it out before the holiday the least I could do is post it by the end of the week.

Let me start off by saying – this issue? – Not so bad. At least not AS bad. So, get comfortable, here we go…

The Hulk jumps into the fight with the Wendigos. They attack and begin to bite the Hulk while Ms. Marvel and Sentry fix the Mile High Tower. Back at the Wendigo fight, Moon Knight says “When you all revert back to being people — assuming you are going to revert back–” (that’s supposed to be a premonition of sorts). Then one of the worst things happen – Hulk turns into a Wendigo himself – calling himself a WendiHulk (yeah – that’s bad but the idea is kind of cool) Sentry comes flying in to save the day and fight the WediHulk, too bad that it’s not interested in fighting, but eating the Sentry instead. Ms. Marvel calls Brother VooDoo in to help. Brother VooDoo basically stabs Moon Knight and does a little spell and BAM everyone is fixed. The naked people stand around confused, barfing, naked, and remembering everything they did. So, this story, as hacky and terrible as it is in explaining anything – like what happened that the Wedigo curse changed? Why did Hulk change from grey to green? But you know what? It wasn’t as terrible as the first arc. I’ll be generous here and give it a C-

Now, since the book is still broken into two seperate stories we still have a Red story to deal with. We join the Lady Liberators as they take on Red. At first Red is swatting them like flies but then She-Hulk gets an advantage and the ladies start to get the better of him. The Invisible Woman creates a force feild around Red’s head so that he can’t breathe. Storm throws a lightning bolt into the bubble and knocks Red out. Instead of taking him bach or putting him into a cell they say let’s wait till he reverts back. Well, bad idea because most of the ladies start to leave and Red gets up without transforming and grabs Thundra and takes off. Red tells Thundra that he wants to recruit her – because she’s the only one with a killer instinct. Thundra contacts She-Hulk to let her know she’s alright but doesn’t tell her about the deal she made with Red. So, this… wasn’t THAT bad either I give it a C- as well.

The whole book really needs to be turned back into a one-story book. Give the Red his own book! The whole book still reads pretty shoddy – pick it up if you’re loyal, like me, but it’s time to put Loeb out to pasture. How much more can he screw up these stories? He’s telling about things but never telling us why or how or who. It’s just frustrating is all.

Let’s get this out of the way right here and now. King Hulk figure – probably one of the best Hulk figures ever made. Ever! Sure WWH might have been a let down in a few ways – but this figure rocked! Not only is the sculpt class A but let’s not look past the accesories. King Hulk comes with this huge battle ax and a huge sword ready to beat down any of your Iron Man or Reed Richards figures!

Best Companion:

Who doesn’t want to recreate your favorite comic covers with the awesome figures? Marvel seems to be getting a bit smarter with this idea releasing a Silver Savage figure in the Target exclusive Red Hulk BAF line. Silver Savage was one of the best unexpected moments of Planet Hulk and one that was so memorable that Sideshow decided to create a full diorama of it. If you can’t afford the dio – no problem buy this and a Planet Hulk figure off ebay and you will be able to have you own diorama without spending the $300! Sounds like a win-win to me!

Worst:

Poor Doc Samson, how he has fallen since issue 141. Back then he was the guy who could take on the Hulk and get the girl in the end – now? Who even knows – as is evident in Hulk #6 where long-haired Samson returned (unexplained), so who was that short haired GQ model who began the series? Well, all we know is that we were given this crappy figure whose hair is in the way of the figure’s neck articulation. Boo.

Best:

The Savage Grey and it’s variant the Classic Hulk has one of the best sculpts on the entire ML line. Missing closed fists aside one of the amazing thing about this figure is that it does capture the look of the original Hulk in either color! While the green variant still doesn’t command such an awesome price tag (I sold one for $51.00 – but since then you can find them for about $20.00) you still can’t deny the awesome look of this figure!

Worst:

I spent all that time waiting for the Hulk 12″ – and this is what we got!?! A cheap, lazy eyed Hulk that screams and has light up eyes? My original post told you guys to forget this figure – that’s still my advice now. Don’t bother with a figure thats scream gets annoting in the first minute that you hear it.

Best:

The best SHS 2-pack we got this year was a harder choice than you’d think. Planet Hulk vs. Silver Savage was great – but ultimately with those two getting statues and full size figures these guys have been played out. Another great one was the King Hulk/Black Bolt 2-pack – I mean, can you think of a more classic scene in WWH? I didn’t think so. So, what was the best 2-pack? I have to go with Zzzax and Hulk. Why? Because we don’t get a lot of chances to see a Zzzax figure – especially a translucent one!

Worst:

Worst SHS 2-pack wasn’t as hard to pick. There were a couple of canidates such as the Samson/Hulk or the Movie Abomination/Hulk 2-pack. How about the one with Skaar in it? No… I went with the Wolverine/Grey Hulk 2-pack. Why? Well, let’s start with the horrible paint job that most of this series had – and let’s end with the fact that they chose to repaint the movie Hulk that’s holding a steel beam. Did I miss something? When did the Hulk use a big steel beam to fight the Wolverine? All around lazy 2-pack.

Best Movie Figure:

The third wave of these figures had some real potential – and then we saw the paint job on the Grey Hulk. Ugh. But it wasn’t all a waste – we got the best figure in the whole series – Bi-Beast. Yes, it could be bigger. Yeas, it has the video game armor – but it’s the freakin’ Bi-Beast! Thank you to Hasbro for making it! And it’s a really decent sculpt and everything!

Worst Movie Figure:

I could easily say Abomination – but the figure looked a lot like the movie character – so you can’t blame them for that. The Grey Hulk figure was a mess, sure, but it was the Grey Hulk! No, the worst figure goes to a Hulk figure and that is the Mega-Clap Hulk. Why? Because once out of the package it was such a dissapointment. I like action in my figures – but this figure, if not mega clapping, has his hands stuck out to the side like he’s trying to fly away or something!